Columbus After Dark: Cafe Bella

Wednesday

May 19, 2010 at 12:01 AMMay 20, 2010 at 4:15 PM

Midnight: To make it through the night after suffering through the Cavs' collapse, we're going to need some sustenance. So we begin the night at Cafe Bella, the idiosyncratic North Campus eatery nestled between Hudson and Arcadia on North High Street. Owner Vince Withers keeps the place open all night Thursday, Friday and Saturday, or at least until the crowd dies down.

Midnight: To make it through the night after suffering through the Cavs' collapse, we're going to need some sustenance. So we begin the night at Cafe Bella, the idiosyncratic North Campus eatery nestled between Hudson and Arcadia on North High Street. Owner Vince Withers keeps the place open all night Thursday, Friday and Saturday, or at least until the crowd dies down.

Inside, dubstep and rock 'n' roll pulse through the room, warmed slightly past the point of comfort by the heat of cooking food. A minimal menu sign includes a breakfast option called "Late Night Shut Up Your Face."

Though there is a limited menu, usually Withers and company cook up whatever customers ask for, provided they've got the ingredients on hand. We're starving and not picky, so he brings us a salad, bruschetta, breaded eggplant and pasta with smoked jowl. Two cups of French press coffee jolt me from my LeBron-induced stupor.

At the next table, actress Amanda N. Sposato and musician Counterfeit Madison are getting in their weekly roommate bonding dinner. They hang out here a lot, and they stay late - Sposato remembers staying from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. one night.